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Upgrading my Macbook 5,1 Questions

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Chrisg2014

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 23, 2010
228
0
USA
Will a Samsung 1TB SATA fit in my Macbook? I need more space to store stuff and I want A LOT OF STORAGE!!!! I have now 160GB. If it doesn't can someone please tell me ones that would fit.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Samsung/HNM101MBB/
Next I have the memory all figured out and I found 4GB from Crucial.
Is it possible to get a better graphics card or no?
 
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Chrisg2014

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 23, 2010
228
0
USA
yauzers619 said:
Yes it will fit fine in a Macbook 5.1.
Click to expand...
Ok Cool, I was just thinking it's a 5400RPM so I was thinking I might want to switch to something like 7200RPM. Can you guys give me a link to one? Will the speed be noticeable? I really do want a faster computer. Also I found out I can't upgrade my graphics card :(
 
Y

yauzers619

macrumors member
May 22, 2011
86
0
Chrisg2014 said:
Ok Cool, I was just thinking it's a 5400RPM so I was thinking I might want to switch to something like 7200RPM. Can you guys give me a link to one? Will the speed be noticeable? I really do want a faster computer. Also I found out I can't upgrade my graphics card :(
Click to expand...

I have the same MacBook, the best upgrade I've done to increase speed is the purchase of an SSD. I have a 128GB SSD in the DVD bay, attached by a OWC expansion bay. Primary HD bay has a 640 GB Samsung drive.

I've never seen a dramatic speed increases when migrating from 5400 to 7200.
 
C

Chrisg2014

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 23, 2010
228
0
USA
yauzers619 said:
I have the same MacBook, the best upgrade I've done to increase speed is the purchase of an SSD. I have a 128GB SSD in the DVD bay, attached by a OWC expansion bay. Primary HD bay has a 640 GB Samsung drive.

I've never seen a dramatic speed increases when migrating from 5400 to 7200.
Click to expand...

Ok I'll just go with a 5400.

As tempting as that sounds, I don't think I can do that. I still use my CD/DVD Optical Drive, also if I had two hard drives I would not know what to save where. One if fast but the other one is bigger. But if it wasn't for the fact I still use the the drive I would totally do it. Do you think I can upgrade anything else? Beside the Harddrive and Ram? Do you think it's possible to get a better screen or a better web cam?
 
rgarjr

rgarjr

macrumors 604
Apr 2, 2009
6,820
1,050
Southern California
U basically save the O/S and apps on the SSD, and use the hard drive to store all your music, videos, photos, etc. I have an Alu MacBook with that Sammy 1TB drive and 80GB Intel SSD.

Don't think u can upgrade anything more other than the drive and memory.

Btw, bump it to 8GB of memory.
 
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yauzers619

macrumors member
May 22, 2011
86
0
rgarjr said:
U basically save the O/S and apps on the SSD, and use the hard drive to store all your music, videos, photos, etc. I have an Alu MacBook with that Sammy 1TB drive and 80GB Intel SSD.

Don't think u can upgrade anything more other than the drive and memory.

Btw, bump it to 8GB of memory.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately the maximum amount of RAM available on a Macbook 5,1 is 4GB.
 
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yauzers619

macrumors member
May 22, 2011
86
0
Chris depending on how much you want to spend on these upgrades, have you thought of putting toward a new Macbook Pro?

The Geekbench score of the Macbook 5,1 is around 2500, while the current gen 13" MBP starts at 5900 and can reach up to 10164 with the 17" MBP.
 
alust2013

alust2013

macrumors 601
Feb 6, 2010
4,779
2
On the fence
yauzers619 said:
Unfortunately the maximum amount of RAM available on a Macbook 5,1 is 4GB.
Click to expand...

Says Apple, others who have tested it say otherwise. 8GB is confirmed to work.

yauzers619 said:
Chris depending on how much you want to spend on these upgrades, have you thought of putting toward a new Macbook Pro?

The Geekbench score of the Macbook 5,1 is around 2500, while the current gen 13" MBP starts at 5900 and can reach up to 10164 with the 17" MBP.
Click to expand...

That's only relevant if you're in need of a faster CPU, although a valid suggestion.

There is no way to upgrade graphics cards in any apple notebook.
 
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yauzers619

macrumors member
May 22, 2011
86
0
Alust, is right,

*Apple officially supports a maximum of 4 GB of RAM. Originally, this model was only unofficially capable of stably supporting 6 GB of RAM, but as confirmed by site sponsor OWC, it is capable of supporting 8 GB of RAM if updated to Boot ROM Version MB51.007D.B03 and running MacOS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard."

so you might want to get 8GB of RAM.
 
C

Chrisg2014

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 23, 2010
228
0
USA
yauzers619 said:
Alust, is right,

*Apple officially supports a maximum of 4 GB of RAM. Originally, this model was only unofficially capable of stably supporting 6 GB of RAM, but as confirmed by site sponsor OWC, it is capable of supporting 8 GB of RAM if updated to Boot ROM Version MB51.007D.B03 and running MacOS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard."

so you might want to get 8GB of RAM.
Click to expand...

I don't think I'll need that much ram for right now. I think I would be good with 4Gb of ram. But I might need it in the future good to know.
Yes I have thought about upgrading my mac but it would be cheaper for me to just spend $31 for 4GB of ram from crucial and you can't get a 1Tb Harddrive from apple for 13in mac pro but you can from Samsung for $119. I don't need a big screen. So really it' either me spend about $150 on upgrades or buy a whole new computer cost me another $1,800 for a computer that has more ram but doesn't have the amount of storage I am looking for. Also I don't have that kind of money laying around.
 
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